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Office of the Provost and Executive Vice President

From the Provost's Desk

June 5, 2015

Office of Academic Personnel closing today, June 5, 2015 

In my Feb. 25 letter to campus, I announced that our Office of Academic Personnel, or OAP, would close in early June as part of our ongoing centralization of university wide human resources functions within the new Human Capital Services, or HCS, as well as other changes within the Office of the Provost.

This past spring, staff within the Office of the Provost and Human Capital Services have worked closely with the director of Office of Academic Personnel, Susana Valdovinos, to prepare for the transition of the university HR-related functions being reassigned to Human Capital Services and those HR-related and academic functions remaining within the Office of the Provost. 

The Office of Academic Personnel will close today, and I want to update you on the transition, next steps and most importantly, where you will go for help or assistance with the services you received from Office of Academic Personnel in the past.

The portfolio of responsibilities in the Office of Academic Personnel grew over more than 20 years. Responsibilities ranged from providing university wide advice, consultation, communication and training on employment matters related to both faculty and unclassified professionals and compliance with university policies, federal and state legislation, and Board of Regents policies to ensuring ongoing maintenance of the University Handbook to administering academic policies, such as textbook reporting.

The list of responsibilities and services reassigned from the Office of Academic Personnel to Human Capital Services and within the Office of the Provost are listed below with relevant contact information. The determination for these reassignments was based on:    

  • any HR-related function or service related to faculty only or the academic organization reporting to the provost — especially those that require provost approval — will remain within the Office of the Provost.
  • any non-HR-related functions of academic personnel — such as academic policies and University Handbook maintenance — will be integrated within the Office of the Provost.
  • any HR-related function or service that applies university wide will be administered by Human Capital Services.

Functions that will remain within the Office of the Provost — listed by position:

Senior vice provost for academic affairs

  • Promotion and tenure, including delay in tenure clock; academic departmental document review; sabbatical requests, tracking and reports; and academic policies compliance — such as textbook reporting and course syllabi. For additional information, contact Ruth Dyer, senior vice provost for academic affairs, at 532-4041 or rdyer@k-state.edu; or Michelle Langvardt, administrative assistant, at 532-6439 or mlr9988@k-state.edu.

Special assistant to the provost

  • University Handbook maintenance/updates, Committee Handbook maintenance/updates, Department Head Manual/Resources maintenance and updates, and Office of the Provost website, incorporating communications on the Office of Academic Personnel website. For additional information, contact Lynn Carlin, special assistant to the provost, at 532-7434 or lcarlin@k-state.edu; or Sandra Brase, program assistant, at 532-2265 or sbrase@k-state.edu.

Executive assistant to the provost

  • Administrative processing and tracking of any personnel actions within the academic colleges and major units requiring the provost's approval including emeritus status requests, leave without pay, health care bridge, modified instructional duties, and phased retirements previously sent to Office of Academic Personnel for review. For additional information, contact Craig Bourne, executive assistant to the provost, at 532-6224 or cbourne@k-state.edu.   

Functions or services reassigned to Human Capital Services — listed by unit:

Benefits

  • Overview of programs such as leave without pay, shared leave, health care bridge, emeritus status and phased retirement. For additional information, contact Amanda McDiffett, HCS director of benefits, at 532-1870 or amcdiffe@k-state.edu. Please note documentation that requires the provost's approval will need to continue to be sent to the Office of the Provost.

Compensation and classification

  • Compensation, salary adjustment reviews, and overall coordination of performance evaluation policies and procedures for unclassified professionals. For additional information, contact Derek Smith, HCS director of compensation and organizational effectiveness, at 532-1869 or derek41@k-state.edu.

Employee relations

  • Dispute resolution, conflict management, conflict coaching, omsbuds, mediation programs and consultation; grievance management and internal administrative hearings administrative support and consultation; and advice to administrators related to performance or conduct issues. For additional information, contact Charlotte Self, HCS director of employee relations, at 532-1868 or charlott@k-state.edu.

Institutional equity

  • Dorothy Thompson Lecture Series. For additional information, contact Travis Gill, HCS director of institutional equity, at 532-6164 or travisgill@k-state.edu.

Learning and development

  • Annual new faculty and unclassified orientation. Program development will be coordinated with Brian Niehoff, associate provost for institutional effectiveness, but the orientation will be conducted through Human Capital Services. For additional information, contact Shanna Legleiter, HCS director of learning and development, at 532-0185 or legleiters@k-state.edu

Resource Center

  • Personnel records/files — centralized — for faculty and unclassified professionals currently maintained by Office of Academic Personnel will be integrated within the Human Capital Services central personnel files during the coming year. In the meantime, Craig Bourne in the Office of the Provost will maintain the Office of Academic Personnel central personnel files. For additional information, contact Alma Deutsch, HCS director of resource center and operations, at 532-1448 or almamd@k-state.edu or Craig Bourne, executive assistant to the provost, at 532-6224 or cbourne@k-state.edu.

Talent acquisition

  • Hiring and retention procedures and consultation, including offer letter and contract/appointment policies and procedures. For additional information, contact Roberta Maldonado-Franzen, HCS director of talent acquisition, at 532-4391 or rfranzen@k-state.edu.

A number of functions and services are still under discussion, including visiting scholars' appointments and conflict of interest disclosures and reports, conflict management plans and consulting requests. We will continue to work on transitioning these services during the summer. In the meantime, the Office of the Provost will continue to provide services not covered in the above reassignments.

You can find additional information regarding the transition on the Office of Academic Personnel website. The Department Head Manual has been updated to include current relevant links and forms, incorporating information that had been duplicated or listed elsewhere on the Office of Academic Personnel website. You also can visit the About the Office of Provost website and Human Capital Services organizational chart PDF for contact information.

The Division of Communications and Marketing is working with the Office of the Provost and Human Capital Services to launch new websites in July with additional useful information and links of where to go for specific services.

As part of this transition within the Office of the Provost, we have created a new email address at provostpersonnel@k-state.edu. Please send email requests previously submitted to Office of Academic Personnel to this new address so we can facilitate a timely response. Similarly, please send such correspondence or paperwork to the Office of the Provost, 108 Anderson Hall, Manhattan, KS 66506. We also are creating a unified log of actions submitted to the Office of the Provost and you will be able to check the status of actions by calling the office at 532-6224.

While we have determined reassignment of responsibilities with the closing of Office of Academic Personnel, most of these changes will require some revision to existing "workflow" procedures. The Office of the Provost will be working with the academic units and Human Capital Services over the next year to identify and revise processes to delegate responsibility where appropriate and streamline where possible. We appreciate your patience as we work through the details of this transition.

If you have questions regarding the services now provided within the Office of the Provost, please contact Lynn Carlin at lcarlin@k-state.edu or Craig Bourne at cbourne@k-state.edu. If you have questions regarding the Human Capital Services changes, please contact Charlotte Self at charlott@k-state.edu.

Thank you for all you do!

April Mason
Provost and Senior Vice President

For past messages, view the message archive.